MOBILE, Alabama -- Mayor Sam Jones spent nearly $33,000 in campaign cash in 2011, more than half of the money he had on hand at the beginning of the year, according to his annual campaign-finance report.

The spending has become the center of some controversy recently, as the amount of money he’s spent, and the places he has spent it, are unusual for a candidate whose next election is more than a year away and who, so far, lacks a credible opponent.

Jim Mather, pastor of All Nations Community Church in Mobile, said that he wrote Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange asking for a formal inquiry into the expenses after seeing news reports about the spending in Lagniappe, a twice-monthly newspaper, and on WKRG.

Mather said in his complaint, a copy of which he provided to the Press-Register, that Jones’ campaign finance reports account for the spending in general terms. However, “there are many questions concerning how this amount could have been spent while the Mayor employs no staff and his current campaign appears virtually inactive,” he said.

Jones told the Press-Register that his campaign spending has been duly reported as is required by law and is entirely aboveboard.

“I’ve been in elected office for 25 years,” he said. “I have never had my integrity questioned. I resent that.”

A new campaign finance law that went into effect last year requires active campaigns to file monthly, or even weekly, but only when the spending is done with “a view toward influencing” an election that will take place in the next 12 months.

Mobile’s mayoral election, slated for August 2013, is still more than 15 months out. At the time Jones filed his annual report, the election was a year and a half away.

One of the largest categories of expenses logged on his report centers on a building he owns in Toulminville that houses his campaign headquarters.

Jones said that he needs to keep the headquarters open year-round because his campaign is centered on volunteers, some of whom meet monthly. He said that he also meets potential donors at that office so as to avoid meeting at City Hall, which would be a conflict of interest and an abuse of the office.

The campaign spent $14,000 on upkeep and utilities related to the building in 2011, according to the campaign finance report.

Accounting for that spending is sticky, though. The campaign occupies about two-thirds of the building, which has three suites. The remaining third is rented out to a hairdresser.

The campaign pays no rent, according to the finance report, but the hairdresser does.

If Jones were to accept rent from her while using campaign funds to pay for the building’s upkeep, that could be a violation of campaign finance law.

The law says that campaign money can only be spent on things that are “necessary and ordinary expenditures of the campaign,” or “that are reasonably related to performing the duties of the office held.”

It expressly forbids spending on personal expenses, including utilities, “that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign.”

Jones said that all the spending reflected on his campaign report is directly related to the two-thirds of the building occupied year-round by his campaign.

The hairdresser pays for her own electricity and gas, he said. She also is responsible for the entire water bill, since she runs a water-intensive operation, he said.

The campaign did cover part of one water bill after a leak on its side of the building drove up the usage, Jones said.

The campaign also paid Charlie Green, who acts as a maintenance man and key-holder, nearly $4,000 in 2011. But Jones said that, apart from waxing the entryway of the building, which is also used by the hairdresser, all of Green’s compensation was for work related to part of the building occupied by his campaign.

A few of the upkeep expenses on the report could ostensibly benefit both the Jones campaign and his tenant, though.

For example, the campaign shouldered the entire $1,500 cost of the building’s trash bin in 2011, even though the hairdresser also uses it, Jones said. The campaign also paid the entire cost of cutting the grass on the property — about $720 paid to a man named Raymon Hill, according to the finance report.

The campaign also pays for the security alarm on the front door, which serves all three suites.

The mayor downplayed the importance of those expenditures, saying the hairdresser didn’t produce much trash and the grass was mostly on his side of the building.

Another significant chunk of spending on the report, $4,500, went to Sam’s Club, a bulk retailer that sells everything from tires to giant jars of mayonnaise. A further $3,500 was spent at Toomey’s Mardi Gras, a carnival supply mecca.

Jones said that some of that money went toward Mardi Gras throws, but a lot of it went for juice and water. Some of the drinks went to stock the conference room in his office at Government Plaza; the rest went to supply his campaign office, said.

The city could probably pay for the drinks in his conference room, Jones said, but he “didn’t want to pass that cost on to the taxpayers.”

Some money was also spent on cookouts for volunteers, including a giant gathering held on Mardi Gras, he said.

As for the Mardi Gras throws, Jones said that he’s always paid for his throws entirely on his own until this year, when he was told that the city already bought throws for the City Council. This year, some throws were paid for with city money, some with campaign money.

Lisa Lambert, the city clerk, said that this year she spent $13,100 on Mardi Gras throws, to be split between all the City Council members who wanted to ride in the parades, the mayor, plus whatever family members they wanted to bring. Lambert said that she would have spent that much money on Mardi Gras supplies regardless of whether the mayor wanted to use city throws.

The Press-Register asked for receipts to confirm Jones’ campaign spending, but a spokesman said it would take some time get the records organized. When the records are prepared, they will be made available, he said.

Jones acknowledged that running a campaign year-round, even when the election itself is years away, might sound strange.